I came across this post written by my sister Erica Jones.

She is part of our teaching team at Live Youth Church.

I hope you enjoy her post as much as I did.

She is wise beyond her years.

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During a volleyball practice I jumped up to hit and when I came down I rolled my ankle. It hurt. I cried. People knew I was in pain immediately. The only logical thing to do was go to the emergency room. I couldn’t hide that I’d been hurt. I needed to see a doctor.

Physical pain is easy to deal with. There are simple solutions to physical pain.

Emotional pain is where it gets tricky. We don’t like to deal with emotional pain.

People can’t see emotional pain. It’s easy to hide. Sometimes, we feel ashamed of our pain. There seems to be no simple ways to “fix” emotional pain.

However, we try our best to fix it. Generally, we try to resolve our emotional pain in 4 ways:

1. Trusting ourselves

We hide it. We put on a happy face. We are so confident in ourselves that we believe our pain will go away when we’re ready for it to go away. Time heals all wounds, right?

2. Trusting others

Someone else will make me feel better. The right guy or girl will come along and I’ll be happy then. Their love for me will fix everything that is wrong in my life.

The problem with using relationships as a way to deal with pain is that by nature, relationships cause pain. A majority of the pain we face already stems from relationships.  We put all our trust in a relationship, and when it fails, or we are rejected, we face more pain then we started with.

3. Hurting ourselves

Drugs, alcohol, cutting. All ways we try to numb our pain temporarily. We don’t have control over other things that cause us pain, but we DO have control over this.

4. Hurting others

We feel so much pain in our lives that we want others to feel it like we do. We hurt others physically & emotionally. We tear others down to make ourselves feel better. We were abused, so we abuse.

So how should we deal with pain?

1. Know that your pain is temporary

Don’t make dumb choices that will outlast your temporary pain.

The nights of crying your eyes out give way to days of laughter. (Psalm 30:5, MSG)

2. We know whatever pain we feel, Jesus has already felt it for us & died for it.

Not only did he feel physical pain, but also he felt all of the same things we feel. He finished it all on the cross for us. He paid the ultimate price.

Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job. Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced. This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner. (1 Peter 4: 12-13, MSG)